According to the Boston Globe, Central Maine Power Company (a Spanish-owned company) wants to run an electric transmission line from the Canadian border, through the North Woods, crossing the Kennebec Gorge, and wending its way to a substation in Lewiston. The purpose of the proposed transmission line is to sell electricity to no other place than Massachusetts.

This same trick was attempted in New Hampshire with a project called Northern Pass, where residents and ultimately the state government said no thank you and don’t let the door hit you in the butt on the way out.

With this proposal, it seems the energy supplier intends to bribe their way to victory offering millions of dollars to poor struggling communities that rely mostly on tourism, outdoor recreation, and the lumbering industry, all of which are a dying breeds thanks to environmentalism and a decaying social structure which thinks it has no use for any of this.

But the money sounds good and several individuals and towns in the path of the 150-foot wide clear cut appear eager to have the eyesore that Massachusetts wants and doesn’t have to live with in exchange for money, some jobs during construction, that more than likely will be meted out to out-of-state and/or out-of-country workers, and funded with money that comes from anywhere but Maine.

But even with all that, consider the utter nonsense the sellers of the project are spewing.

They first want people to believe that this project will save the planet, by producing “clean” energy from hydro-power locations which will cut down on carbon emissions to curb Global Warming. Anyone with a brain knows this is utter nonsense that cannot and will never be supported by real science.

Consider the statement…Please! There is ample room for discussing how building a dam smack dab in the middle of a perfectly good river is harmful to the environment.

And then, millions and millions of board-feet of trees are going to be removed from the forest. Last time I checked trees feed off absorbed carbon dioxide giving off oxygen for all of us to breath. Can removing all the trees save the planet?

During construction of the transmission line, carbon-burning equipment will pollute the environment, erosion will happen, wildlife will be disrupted, vernal pools destroyed, brooks and rivers will be dirtied and upset, more roads built to gain access, and the list is endless. How is any of this good for the environment and how will it have any effect on fake global warming? It’s “clean” energy from water power, therefore it is good?

Seriously!

I know I mostly waste my time talking about Global Warming because the masses are now completely sold on its validity and all that is measured these days is how ga-ga the zombies are at the moment about how it might affect their self-gratifying lives and their love affairs with cell phones and social media. Nothing else matters.

Some of the environmentalists are saying they aren’t sold on the idea that hydropower sent over a new transmission line will reduce the effects of global warming and instead suggest that CMP (a Spanish-owned company – oh, did I already mention that?) should take the money and put it to work building more solar and wind energy projects.

Consider this suggestion for a moment. Think of the environmental destruction that takes place when solar fields and windmill projects are built. Massive amounts of forests are forever destroyed and still transmission lines must be built in order to get power from point A to point B.

In the proposed new transmission line, it would pass the Appalachian Trail 3 times and cross directly over the Kennebec Gorge. Some find this an atrocity that cannot happen because environmentalists use the trails and consider the Gorge as untouchable. And yet, they think nothing of raping mountain tops and erecting the ugliest of all uglies – windmills towering well over 200 feet placing a blight on the skyline, especially when one catches on fire after it has killed hundreds of birds and changed the habitats and habits of all sorts of wildlife. But, but, but… we’re saving the planet.

And all of this will save the planet?

But saving the planet be damned, it appears money will talk and shit will walk. Here’s some of what CMP is promising the residents that will be impacted by this project.

It will create 1,700 temporary jobs and bring in $18 million a year in new property taxes. (Sounds like a lot of money but when you spread it out through numerous towns the length of the transmission line, it’s not that sizable that it would matter much.

CMP is pledging to spend $50 million over 40 years on “programs” to “assist” low-income families and to reroute the Appalachian Trail. Gobbledee-Gook!!! A million a year…until nobody keeps count anymore and then what? Pledge be damned!

You will have to decide for yourself about whether you think the project is a good one. The real issue here is the continued lying and hypocrisy that still exists and always will from two-faced environmentalists who swear to save the planet with one breath while something else is destroyed that is more destructive than what is attempted to be saved. It is utter insanity.

The world won’t come to an end if power lines are strung across the Kennebec Gorge. But don’t think for a minute that swapping that proposal for another super ugly, environmentally destructive windmill project will save the day. Give me a break!

However, it appears that the enticement of some temporary money will win out. Some in Maine will see effects of bribe money but most won’t, all for the prospect of delivering electricity to Massachusetts. As was suggested to me, if Massachusetts needs the electricity, let it be their problem and not Maine’s. Serious thought should be given about what happens to Maine that will only benefit Massachusetts and to hell with dirty bribe money.

If Massachusetts insists on “clean” energy, I’m sure there are many great locations to put up a nuclear power plant and be done with it. GASP!!!!

NextEra Energy, which bills itself on its website as “the world’s largest generator of renewable energy,” is suing a tiny municipality in one of Oklahoma’s poorest counties.

In mid February, NextEra, which operates 110 wind projects in 20 states, filed lawsuits in both state and federal court against the town of Hinton, population: 3,200. Why is the wind giant suing the Caddo County town? Simple: Hinton stands between NextEra and nearly $18 million per year in federal tax subsidies.<<<Read More>>>

Two years ago I wasted quite a bit of time opposing the Minnesota DNR decree to impose a ban on using any lead ammunition on State Wildlife Areas. During this thorough waste of time (it was a simple government decree in a decree-friendly state based on nonsense with no possibility of any change from the get-go) I trekked to downtown St. Paul to the DNR Headquarters for a “Hearing” and a chance to “testify”.

What a circus. The 40 or 50 attendees were divided by sex and costumes. On “my” half sat males over 50 sitting in groups of friends all decked out in wool shirts; they were the opposition. On the other half sat a gaggle of females under 50 that probably thought that a gunstock was something listed on the Stock Exchange: they were obviously all acquainted with each other and each was decked out in “professional” clothes suitable for CEO-level executives recently departed from their offices or some expensive urban watering hole for this important meeting; they were the supporters of the ban.

There were a few anomalies in the female supporters group. First there was the DNR “chief” that obviously knew each lady and wandered amongst them like a movie star. Then there was the old man dressed in impeccable Orvis duds that looked real “outdoorsy” as he self-identified as a “hunter”.

Last but not least was an older lady in fairly grubby clothes that identified herself and her plea as an “Eagle Rescue biologist”. Her emotional “testimony”, that was allowed to exceed the time limit unlike the rest of us, was full of tales of Bald eagles injured by “hunters” and brought to her Rescue venue located on a heavily used wintering eagle stretch of the Mississippi. She even shared X-rays of eagles showing “lead” pellets that were “killing them”. She received an ovation at her conclusion.

What she failed to mention was that the fact of lead or some other pellet metal was immaterial; lead pellets or bullets imbedded in muscle or other non-organ tissue is benign. You or I or an eagle or a loon or a duck for that matter so afflicted may live a long life or die soon depending on the wound, not the presence of lead, since lead is not absorbed into the organs and blood (where accumulations can be fatal) when it is simply lodged in muscle or other non-organ tissue. The lead ammunition bugaboo is based on waterfowl hyperbole and over estimation where ducks and geese, et al have CROPS full of GRIT (pebbles, shot and other small round and hard items they must constantly replenish) that they use to grind their hard plant food like seeds for digestion. Lead shot (less than claimed) is often ground up and passes through the digestive system with the seeds and if absorbed over a long period can prove fatal. This “climate-change”-like anecdotal over-estimation successfully justified banning lead for any waterfowl hunting over two decades ago.

Then the same folks used it to justify banning lead fishing tackle because loons were dying from “lead poisoning”. When I tried to explain to a couple of Minnesota fishermen asking for others to turn in all their lead tackle a few years ago that the miniscule number of loons documented to have toxic lead levels ALSO had digestive systems plugged with fishing TACKLE (hooks, leaders, line) and were in fact starving to death thanks to the plugged digestive system and NOT LEAD, they got irate and told me to get lost. You see loons HAVE NO CROP AND THEREFORE NO LEAD GRIT because they are fish eaters with digestive systems more like ours than their seed-eating cousins. When a loon finds a bait minnow on a broken line (with tackle attached) on a snag, it swallows the minnow and the attached tackle that eventually knots up in the digestive system and starves the bird to death as its digestive juices flow freely and absorb as much of the lead as possible.

So let us return to the meeting about lead ammunition on MN State Wildlife Areas and the ladies emotional appeal on behalf of eagles. Eagles don’t have, nor need, crops. Eagles don’t need nor gather grit. Eagles eat fish and meat. So, all the eagle and lead-pellet X-rays that brought tears to our eyes that winter evening were simple deceptions. Eagles that die from or are maimed by lead (or any other shot or bullet for that matter) either die from the wound; are disabled by the wound; or recover to stir all MN progressive’s patriotism as they soar above our waterways.

I remembered that little old lady recently and wondered where she is now as I read the following newspaper article titled, “Wind-turbine rule would allow for eagle deaths”.

Having been sensitized to the “fact” that no sacrifice (like ammunition cost and effectiveness or traditional family-heirloom weapon use) is too much to ask to “save” one, much less multiple eagles, from death or wounding I was shocked by the title. Seeing men and kids investigated, prosecuted, fined, jailed (and prohibited from future voting and gun ownership unlike current prisoners incarcerated for “non-violent” drug crimes being released to vote and bloat growing recidivism statistics) and otherwise marginalized for shooting, mounting or possessing a Bald or Golden Eagle – all at great government expense – I read the article that upset me far more evidently than all the little old ladies or urban professional ladies or the old guys and bureaucrats that hang around them.

Here are the relevant parts of the article with my comments italicized in parentheses.

Wind-turbine rule would allow for eagle deaths

The Obama administration on Wednesday (14 December 2016) finalized a rule that lets wind-energy companies operate high-speed turbines for up to 30 years — even if means killing or injuring thousands of federally protected bald and golden eagles.

(THOUSANDS?? 30 YEARS?? Those wind “farms” have been killing millions of “Protected” birds every spring and fall for 30 years already with nary a scream from all these do-gooders. Not only were federal bureaucrats paid handsomely to “Protect” them, the bureaucrats of USFWS, the State bureaucrats, the “conservation” organizations, the bird outfits, the radical environmentalists and even the little old Eagle Rescue lady were all AWOL as they lied about lead to discourage hunting and fishing and treated their fellow citizens and their cherished pursuits far worse than government treats terrorists or incarcerated drug smugglers, sellers and perverters of America’s youth.)

Under the new rule, wind companies and other power providers will not face a penalty if they kill or injure up to 4,200 bald eagles, nearly four times the current limit. Deaths of the more rare golden eagles would be allowed without penalty so long as companies minimize losses by taking steps such as retrofitting power poles to reduce the risk of electrocution.

(How come ranchers weren’t offered a silly “out” by these “concerned” bureaucrats like putting out eagle food or working at an eagle “rescue” center when they killed A golden eagle killing a lamb or a calf or a dog? Maybe they could attach an electrical shocker to their dog or a lamb or a calf or a kid and let a golden eagle swoop in and get shocked when it grabs them? It doesn’t work with wolves but then we could “test” it for years until the ranchers are gone. Just below you will see that the government won’t discuss or release eagle deaths data; so how do we know 4,200 is “four times” the current limit?)

The new rule will conserve eagles while also spurring development of a pollution-free energy source intended to ease global warming, a cornerstone of President Barack Obama’s energy plan, said Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe.

(Pollution-free”?? 4200 dead Bald eagles and an untold number of golden eagles minced up and lying about is a certain level of accumulated tissue and genes that is hardly describable as “pollution-free”. The next time some jerk or jerkette bullies you or your children into a “come to Gaia” moment to deny any doubts about global warming, remember this bit of national disgrace because this bureaucrat justifies a magnitude of eagle killing unknown since federal ”protection” of eagles became a federal duty as a good because it eases “global warming. As a nod to public information, this bureaucrat “Director” was a radical political staff Director in the US House and lost his job when Newt and the Republicans took control of the House 2 years into the reign of Clinton. He was quickly picked up by USFWS in a top job and given charge of the federal Pittman Robertson Excise Taxes on arms and ammunition intended for state wildlife agencies and their wildlife programs. Over the next two years $45 to 60 Million went missing, and per a General Accounting Office Audit was used to insert wolves into the Upper Rockies and open an office in California, both of which the Congress had refused to fund or authorize. This effete environmentalist spent the Bush years in a non-job post and was then made Director under Obama. The money was never replaced, state governments went AWOL, and no one was charged after Two Congressional hearings just before a Presidential election. Yes, such a person is no surprise in the middle of this debacle.)

“No animal says America like the bald eagle,” Ashe said in a statement, calling recovery of the bald eagle “one of our greatest national conservation achievements.” The new rule attempts to build on that success, Ashe said, adding that the Fish and Wildlife Service is trying to balance energy development with eagle conservation.

(If this isn’t straight out of George Orwell’s description of Newspeak, i.e. meaningless babble that cannot be challenged or understood, then I don’t know what is.)

Wind power has increased significantly since Obama took office, and wind turbines as tall as 30-story buildings are rising across the country. The wind towers have spinning rotors as wide as a passenger jet’s wingspan, and blades reach speeds of up to 170 mph at the tips, creating tornado-like vortexes.

The birds are not endangered species but are protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The laws prohibit killing, selling or otherwise harming eagles, their nests or eggs without a permit.

(“30-story buildings”; “passenger jet’s wingspan”; “170 mph blades”: all built in enormous acreages EXACTLY where birds migrate and soar because that is where the best and most persistent winds have occurred for centuries. Who knew such a situation was or even could be harming birds? No wonder NO media or environmentalists or professors said anything. Luckily we have the likes of the USFWS enforcing these bird protection laws and state DNR’s to do thing like manipulate “Rescue” ladies to regale us with why we should stop using economical and efficient ammunition for hunting because we might kill an eagle unknowingly. Al Capone had nothing on these guys.)

It’s unclear what toll wind energy companies are having on eagle populations, although Ashe said as many 500 golden eagles a year are killed by collisions with wind towers, power lines, buildings, cars and trucks. Thousands more are killed by gunshots and poisonings.
Reporting of eagle mortality is voluntary, and the Interior Department refuses to release the information.

(Raise your hand if you are surprised that the Administration that gave us the Hillary/ATF/Gun Smuggling/UN Small Arms Treaty Attempt/ Fast & Furious scandal; the Lois Lerner/IRS record destruction scandal; Private computer servers in basements; and just recently refused to explain computer hacking by Russia to Congress and magically disagreement between 17 government intelligence agencies disappeared while the President says he knows all about in a press conference as he scoots out to a 17-day vacation in Hawaii – also gives us:

“It’s unclear what toll wind energy companies are having on eagle populations.”

“Ashe said as many 500 golden eagles a year are killed by collisions with wind towers, power lines, buildings, cars and trucks. Thousands more are killed by gunshots and poisonings”. This latter is a lie. If there was anything near this USFWS would have been screaming to Congress for more employees and budget and the “Establishment” would have granted it immediately for fear of being called “anti- America’s symbol”.

Reporting of eagle mortality is voluntary, and the Interior Department refuses to release the information. These guys must have taken public information classes in Moscow. They should be fired for such illegal public employee arrogance to cover up…??)

The new rule is set to take effect in mid-January, days before Obama leaves office. President-elect Donald Trump could change the rule or scrap it, but the process would likely takes months or years.

(Wow, can you imagine what things would be like if President Obama hadn’t promised President-elect Trump an honest and friendly transition of power?)

Ashe declined to be interviewed, but he said in a blog entry Wednesday the total number of eagles killed per year is likely to be in the hundreds, not thousands.

(How does a “public” “servant” decline” to tell the public about public business that has NO security (other than the tushes of the said bureaucrats) implications? This swamp not only needs to be “drained”; it needs to be tiled and planted for the benefit of those paying for it!)

Michael Hutchins of the American Bird Conservancy said Wednesday that his group has “some serious concerns” that the new rule will not do not enough to sustain populations of threatened eagles.

(The “conservation” organizations are full of these guys. They are like draft dodgers telling little kids what they did “in the war”. I include here all those urban “useful idiots” that harm their rural fellow citizens for their own selfish imaginings and even the sincere little old ladies that babble on and are never challenged like some minority spouting nonsense or a terrorist-looking man or women stranger that shows up in some public gathering wearing heavy clothing and a backpack. All of them intend to force the rest of us to submit to th+++eir vision of a society they run and we either submit or lose our rights or worse.

Yesterday I received an email telling me I was accusing Obama and his Administration unjustly of doing bad things as they went out the door. The writer inferred that I must be a racist to be so anti-Obama. Well, make your own decision here but I, for one, am glad to be done with them. And as I said in the title, “don’t let the door hit you in the &$$ on the way out!”

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is finalizing revisions to permit regulations for nonpurposeful (incidental) take of eagles and take of eagle nests in part 22 of title 50 of the Code of Federal Regulations. The revisions are intended to create a permitting framework that we can implement more efficiently and thus encourage greater public compliance while ensuring protection of bald and golden eagles. Our goal is to enhance protection of eagles throughout their ranges through implementation of mitigation measures that avoid and minimize, and compensate for, adverse impacts from otherwise lawful activities.

The Service is modifying the definition of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act’s “preservation standard,” which requires that permitted take be compatible with the preservation of eagles. We are also removing the distinction between standard and programmatic permits, codifying standardized mitigation requirements, and extending the maximum permit duration for eagle incidental take permits (50 CFR 22.26). The regulations also include a number of additional revisions to the eagle nest take regulations at 50 CFR 22.27, as well as revisions to the permit fee schedule at 50 CFR 13.11; new and revised definitions in 50 CFR 22.3; revisions to 50 CFR 22.25 (permits for golden eagle nest take for resource development and recovery operations) for consistency with the Sec. 22.27 nest take permits; and two provisions that apply to all eagle permit types (50 CFR 22.4 and 22.11).<<<Read More>>>

If you follow this link, you can read where the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has crafted a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the construction of up to 500 windmills as part of the Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind Energy Project. The DEIS is for the allowance of how many golden and bald eagles will be permitted to be killed by environmental destruction of habitat and spinning windmill blades.

This link is a 70-page report of the “modeling” done to predict how many eagles will be killed from this project – 14 golden eagles and 2 bald eagles PER YEAR.

So we’ve gone from wind farms chopping up birds to poisoning the water supply. They’re not economically viable without public subsidy, they never meet their promised power generation or reliability, but, hey, they do give you diarrhea. And maybe kill your unborn child. All to fight catastrophic man-caused global warming, a problem that does not exist.

What on Earth are you complaining about?

Now, of course, nothing is proven yet, but I’ll wager dollars to donuts there’s more to this than the hysteria over fracking and earthquakes.

Both socialist countries of the United States and Germany have at least one thing in common; government must subsidize the forcing of “renewable” energy costs.

“Germany’s push toward renewable energy is causing so many drops and surges from wind and solar power that the government is paying more utilities than ever to help stabilize the country’s electricity grid.”<<<Read More>>>

Written by Gary Campbell, president of Partnership for the Preservation of the Downeast Lakes Watershed

Friday, June 6, 2014

The Sweet Taste of Victory
On June 5th, 2014 history was made in Augusta. For the first time ever, the Board of Environmental Protection (BEP) upheld the denial of a wind project in Maine. That’s right… we prevailed! Bowers Mountain and the Downeast Lakes are safe for now. Champlain Wind (First Wind) has only two options available to them now:

1. They can reconfigure the project and submit an entirely new application to DEP starting the process all over again. This is not likely because the Deputy Commissioner of DEP made it very clear, contrary to First Wind’s opinion, that any modification to the Bowers project would require an entirely new evaluation. Certainly if an entirely new application is required, as it is now, the DEP will have the ability to simply not accept the application on the grounds that the Bowers site has already been judged to be inappropriate for a wind project.

2. They can appeal the BEP’s decision to the State Supreme Court (Law Court). If they chose this route, they must file quickly. There’s a chance the Court would not even accept the case because it has been decided against First Wind three times already. If they do accept it, then First Wind will find it extremely difficult to convince the Justices that three State Agencies independently came to the same erroneous conclusions. Still, if they do decide to appeal, PPDLW will be there to fight!

Over the years I’ve asked you to attend meetings. I know how difficult it is to take time off from work and drive great distances to watch what is often a confusing proceeding. Yesterday Kay and I were seated in the front row facing the BEP members. After the final vote was taken to deny the appeals, I turned around and I honestly teared up a bit. Up to that point I had no idea that we OWNED that room! I estimate that about 30 of the 40 seats held PPDLW members who were wearing their No Towers on Bowers buttons. Some people wore more than one button to show just how long we’ve been fighting this project. I was told afterward that the number of people who willing to stand up for Bowers Mountain and the Downeast Lakes came as a complete shock to everyone. Thank you for attending. You all made a HUGE difference! The same is true with all the letters and emails you’ve written over the years.

We all go through emotional highs and lows, days of hope & confidence and days of discouragement, times when we lose faith in the system and times when trust it. But don’t let anyone tell you that you don’t have a voice. By writing those letters and emails, by attending and speaking at those hearings, we have made ourselves heard. I can’t overemphasize how important that has been. Thank you for all you’ve done.

The Nitty Gritty
You may recall that at the May 1st meeting, the BEP sent the Draft Denial Order (denying the two appeals) back to DEP for modification. At BEP’s prompting, DEP deleted a few paragraphs and corrected some typos. Nothing really consequential. We may have been frustrated that they didn’t just scribble the changes on the document, vote on it and sign it right then and there. But don’t be disappointed. This BEP decision is extremely significant as it’s the first time they’ve upheld a wind project denial. They knew that the document they sign has to be iron-clad perfect for it to withstand appeal and the kind of scrutiny First Wind will subject it to. We should be grateful that BEP and DEP have been so attentive to getting this right and doing it right.

According to the 5/1 minutes and the posted agenda, the purpose of yesterday’s meeting was to make sure the changes to the document had been made and then vote to accept the document, denying the appeals. That was why we had to return for yesterday’s meeting. But fewer than 72 hours before the meeting First Wind pulled a fast one. They pull this stunt every time it looks like they won’t get their way.

First Wind attorney Juliet Browne wrote a letter to BEP Chair Foley again arguing their case for granting the appeal. But, she wrote, if they don’t want to grant the appeal, it least remand the application back to DEP because First Wind is willing to modify the project. PPDLW immediately responded, also in writing. BEP Chair Foley decided, however, to entertain the idea of remanding for redesign and distributed First Wind’s letter, complete with new evidentiary exhibits, to the Board.

When the meeting opened yesterday, one board member expressed disappointment that First Wind would pull such a stunt at the last minute. Then each party was allowed a few minutes to make a presentation. Both appellants had to be asked to stop re-arguing the case and limit their comments to the remand issue. Interestingly, intervenors in support of the Bowers project, the Conservation Law Foundation and the Maine Renewable Energy Association did not attend this meeting. Our comments stuck to the legal issue of whether the contents of that letter could be entertained by the Board. DEP ‘s Heather Parent later stood up to confirm two of the points we made.

After brief deliberations that focused on the fact that First Wind could have modified the project at any time in the past ten months but instead decided to spring this on the Board at the last possible minute, the Board voted unanimously NOT to remand the case back to DEP.

The Board then returned to its original agenda, studying the changes and corrections that had been made to the Denial Order. Once satisfied with the document the Board voted 4:1 to accept it.

Broken Record
I was recently reminded of a comment made by a BEP board member during the Passadumkeag appeal meeting. He said he didn’t want the record to be reopened to public input because the public just keeps saying “the same old same old”. Consider these two quotes:

“An applicant does not have an opportunity to respond to agency feedback.”
~ First Wind’s Juliet Browne’s 6/2/14 letter to BEP: 72 hours before BEP denial vote

“There hasn’t been a mechanism in this process for applicants to react to feedback.”
~ Juliet Browne at LURC meeting 4/6/12: two weeks before LURC denial vote

Sounds like a wind developer delivering the “same old same old” to me!

Give yourselves a pat on the back and celebrate a turbine-free summer. I’ll keep you informed of any developments.